Story+1995-11-22+Red+Bank,+NJ

´´Thank you very much....alright, before we continue....a few ground-rules (chuckles).... one is, uh....all kidding aside and all, a lot of this music tonight was written, part of the composition of it is the silence in-between the spaces so I really need your help in, uh, keeping the quiet during the songs....so if you know the lyrics, I´m flattered (?) you wanna sing along, that´s what you´re paying me for, alright ?....clapping along (?), you´re an embarrassment for all and....and uh....during the course of the tune, uh, uh, I really don´t need encouragement to, to know if I´m doing well or poor, alright, so....so, that said, uh, that´s really important, it´s the only way I´m gonna be able to give you my best tonight and uh.....otherwise I´ll have to come down there.....start slapping people around....it´ll ruin my ´good guy´-image....so, alright....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Adam Raised a Cain´**

´´(?)....this is a song, uh....it´s a song about a fella that, he gets out of prison and is in....in the process of trying to....integrate himself back into the world....and uh....what if the thing that you did best, one thing you do well was something that would kill you....this is called ´Straight Time´....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Straight Time´**

´´Like I said last night, if I was gonna fuck up, I wanted to do it in front of friends.....uh, this is a song, I guess about....learning about yourself a little too late....this is called ´Highway 29´....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Highway 29´**

´´This is a song I guess that we´ve, uh....we´ve decided, I guess, that some Americans are expendable and that their lives and their dreams are simply the price of doing business....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Murder Incorporated´**

´´(someone yells ´I love you !´) I´m sure you´re very nice too.....this is uh....this is something from ´The River´-album....I´ll do it for my buddy....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Point Blank´**

´´Thank you, thanks a lot....alright, this is uh....at least three-quarters of this joint tonight are my relatives....I don´t know how any of you other suckers got in ! (chuckles).... anyway, but uh....anyway, I´ll do this for my gal....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´If I Should Fall Behind´**

´´This is uh....this is the song that people´ve been telling me since I recorded it that it was misunderstood....and uh, I don´t know if that´s true or not, I´m not sure....I was thinking (?)...a lot more people....had this record than any of my other ones....so I figured ´Ok, so that means....that....records where I´m misunderstood´....you know, you know where I´m going with this ?....and uh, I´m laying in bed the other night and this was going through my head....this was the kind of things I think about....(?) but uh, I don´t know, anyway, the songwriter always has the chance to re-write the book and it´s, and if that´s true that people misunderstood this song and got this record, my mother thanks you and my father thanks you (chuckles)....but uh....see if I´ll get it right this time....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Born in the U.S.A´**

´´This is a song that I was telling the folks last night....that´s kind of about getting it wrong in a relationship....I was saying I had it, I got it wrong for about 35 years and....was the same relationship with different women all the time....well, not all the time....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Dry Lightning´**

´´(a woman yells : ´Turn on the lights !´) It´s a theater, honey, it´s supposed to be dark....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Spare Parts´**

"There´s a book that I, I bought in mid-80´s, it´s a book called Journey to Nowhere and uh....(?) text by a fellow named Dale Maharidge and there were photos by a fellow named Michael Williamson ...and uh....I bought the book years ago and I stuck it away and for some reason as I was almost finished with this record, I, I pulled it out....and basically these two, these two guys, they (?) on the trains and they rode across the country chronicling what ....what was happening to....a whole segment of ....segment of Americans in the course of the 1980´s, people getting squeezed out of their jobs, people that could ....that were once.... hanging on to a middle-class status, slipping down....people that were doing worse than that, ending up at the....ending up on the road heading south, trying to find work down in Texas... this is uh... (?) I think it´s out of print at the moment, trying to get it back in print and I hope it will be back in print soon, it´s a book called Journey to Nowhere and it´s very, very...it´s just, it´s very, very real....so this is a song that I, I read, read the book and this song was inspired by ....by that book....this is called Youngstown ....."
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Youngstown´ **

´´These, uh....these next series of songs are set....set on the California-Mexico border (?) and uh....this first thing is uh....in the, uh....in the, uh, in the 60´s in Southern California, uh....the metamphetamine trade was basically handled by outlawed biker gangs and in the 70´s, Mexican drug gangs took over....and uh, they´d come up north and they´d hire migrant workers to.....cook metamphetamine in.....in these labs....and, uh, this is a story about.....two brothers, very, very, very dangerous, flammable, a very, very dangerous thing to do....this is a story about two brothers coming (?)....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Sinaloa Cowboys´**

´´Here´s, uh.....next song about a border patrolman, uh, working out at the, uh....out at the San Diego station....and uh, I guess what you get is a lot of fellows get discharged from the army out there and they start, they go to work for the INS....and uh....it´s a tough job, a confusing job....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´The Line´**

´´(?)...this next song is a song called ´Balboa Park´, there´s uh....little border kids coming ....come scooting across the river and....they end up on this strip in San Diego, kids 13, 14 years old, where they end up, uh, they end up selling themselves (?)....this is a song about a park where....they´re doing it.....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Balboa Park´**

´´Thanks, this, uh....this next song....it´s sort of, uh....about the mystery of human nature and how....how people just keep going.....almost no matter, well, no matter what happens, they keep going....and uh....I remember I was in my 20´s and.....and uh....the first time I saw this John Ford picture ´Grapes of Wrath´....and.....I was about, I guess I was around 26....and it had a deep, deep, deep effect on me, very deep....and uh....previous to that, I don´t know if I´d....I wasn´t familiar with the book, you know, I didn´t grow up in a house where there was a lot of books or a lot of, lot of culture or people who´d steer you in that particular direction so this was a real, it was a big experience....and uh....I, I don´t know if you´ve seen the picture, if not it´s something that´s, it´s worth seeing, there´s a scene with Henry Fonda at the end.....where he, uh....he´s talking to his mama....and he has to leave and he says ´(?) and I´ll be all around you in the dark´ and she loses her son and the last scene....they´re driving off in a truck and she´s just saying ´Well, we need to keep going ´cause that´s what we do....we just keep going´.... ”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Across the Border´**

´´Well, that´s the, uh, that´s the song that explains why I never did any hallucogenics (chuckles) it was already there, it was already there for some reason....Oh, gonna do this tonight....for my good buddy Little Steven....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´This Hard Land´ (after ´Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street ?)**

´´Oh, I´m gonna give this a shot, I don´t know what´s gonna happen....oh....I guess this was a song, there was a lot of things....that, uh....that I, I´d kind of stopped writing about for about ten years for some reason (chuckles)....and uh....and this was a song that....for which I have to thank Jonathan Demme because, uh, he kind of got me back into it and I don´t know if....I´d written this one, everything else would´ve come pouring out now.... so I´m gonna give this a shot and we´ll see how we do.....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Streets of Philadelphia´**

´´Yeah, uh, I knew there was a reason I did that song with a band.....hey, I told you about fucking clapping....alright, this is uh....this is a song that, uh.....it was based on actual events that happened in Texas in the mid-80´s, uh, at the end of the Vietnam War, there was a lot of....let me, let me preface this by saying that there´s always, particularly during an election year, there´s always, uh, somebody out there trying to scapegoat somebody else for what they perceive is right or wrong with the country and it´s always somebody whose....skin is a little diffent color than theirs or who speaks a little differently or who´s from some different place and you´ll hear all these, you know, ´America for Americans´-statements and....and you know, like we all, you know, were, were, uh, were here in the first place....so I guess, um.... this is a song, at the end of the Vietnam War, a lot of the Vietnamese refugees ended up down in Texas because....there was, there are parts of it that was very similar to their home .....and they went into the shrimping business and there was a lot of tension between the Texas Gulf fishermen and, and the Vietnamese refugees and this is a song called, uh.... ´Galveston Bay´....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´Galveston Bay´**

´´Thank you....first of all I wanted to, uh....I wanna thank you for being such a great audience, really, uh....(?)....but uh, really, uh, a show like this is really, really, really co-operative effort between the audience and, and the guy on stage and I can´t get it by myself and you really gave me the room and the freedom that I needed to do it and I really wanna say thank you, I appreciate it....so....(?)(chuckles)....anyway, this is uh.... (?) this is a song originally was, uh....I read a novel called ´The Killer in Me´ by a fellow named Jim Thompson, a real good writer, the books are a lot of fun (?) a Los Angeles writer who wrote a lot of....sort of noir, in the vein something like James (?) and uh, he had this character, he was the sheriff who went around and sort of spoke in cliches all the time and he was like a real smart sort of a, a sinister character and he slowly killed off all his enemies around town but he was always ´(?) Have a nice day´....(?)....so I said ´I like that idea....the killing off all your enemies part´ (chuckles) and uh....(?)....”
 * 22.11.95 Red Bank, NJ, intro to ´My Best Was Never Good Enough´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//